


Ten Years Later

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, F/F, Gen, Korrasami Month 2016, Sweet, during season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 13:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8447731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: There's no way Asami could have guessed where she'd be now. (For "Ten Years Later" prompt. It's set in Season 1. As always, I answer prompts obliquely.)





	

Asami pulled the shock glove from her hand, setting it on one of her still-packed boxes crammed into the tiny room on Air Temple Island. It was late and she should be tired, but she was still full of adrenaline after the chase and recapture of the escaped prisoners. It felt good to be out with her friends, doing some good. Using her father's glove and her father's car to fight her father's Equalist allies.

She grimaced, turning away and unbuttoning her coat. She felt good about tonight—she did!—but so much of her energy, so much of herself, was dedicated to simply holding together at all. Her father was an Equalist. He was practically their second in command! How could she not have seen? They'd been close, she thought. How had she not known? When had it started?

Why hadn't he told her?

How would she have responded, if he had? That factory had to take years to build. If he'd come to her at fifteen, sixteen, before she'd met her friends... what would she have done?

Asami shivered. Perhaps it was best not to take the coat off yet.

At least she did have her friends. Mako had held her through the night, after, until she'd passed out. And Korra had been overwhelmingly welcoming. Everybody had. She couldn't disappoint them.

She'd made her choice. It was the right one.

Still.

A knock came on her door. Asami frowned, and considered. If she weren't in the girls' dormitory she might have assumed it was Mako, but he'd looked pretty tired as they'd kissed goodnight and parted not long before. Not that she wouldn't be a little thrilled if he'd snuck in to check up on her... “Who is it?”

“It's me.” Korra. “Mind if I come in?”

“It's alright,” Asami said, finding a slight smile on her lips. “I'm decent.”

Korra slid the door open, eyes alight as she entered. “Decent? Asami you're _amazing_. That driving tonight! Ramping over that truck and that turn!” Korra made a motor sound, sliding her hand in a wide arc in front of her. “Then the way you shocked that chi-blocker without letting off the gas for a second... Gotta say, Asami. You never cease to impress.”

Asami felt her cheeks color. “I couldn't have done most of it without a car full of benders. I'm just happy to help.”

“Well, I'm happy to have it,” Korra said, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. “Really, though, I saw your light on, and if you couldn't tell, I'm still a little wired from the chase. So I was wondering...” she glanced at the pile of boxes, glove on top, “did you want some help unpacking a little?”

She sighed, shook her head. “I've already filled the dressers. The rest of it's fine where it is.” Honestly, she was a little embarrassed by how much stuff she'd brought along. She hadn't wanted to spend the time in the mansion to really pick through her things.

“You're sure?” Korra asked, her smug smile gone and replaced with a look of honest concern. “Look, Asami... I may not have been the most friendly when we first met. But you're smart and strong and wonderful, and I want to do right by you. This whole thing with your father... it can't be easy.”

Asami stepped away. She wasn't sure she could handle this conversation, just now. “It's... I'm fine. You've got enough to worry about.”

“Hey...” Korra said, creeping around her side and peeking into her view. “C'mon, let me help. If it's too much emotion to unpack right now, there's still all of that.” She motioned back to the luggage. “At least let me help you clear up some floor space?”

Asami smiled. “Alright.”

They shifted some boxes around, Asami only vaguely remembering what had been thrown into which. This one was mostly clothes, that one was shoes and scarves. Still another the contents of her work desk, from supplies she could easily have bought or borrowed to her irreplaceable friend Wrenchie. Korra was more than happy to lug the boxes around, and Asami found herself more than happy to surreptitiously watch her. The Avatar was obviously going to be a powerful person, but those muscles... those were something else. “How about this one?” Korra asked, back muscles straining through her shirt. “Is there an engine in here or something?”

Asami chuckled, pulling her eyes away. “Actually, in a way there is. That should all be some of my design notes. Let's set it by the desk.”

Korra was more than happy to do so, collapsing against it with a *whuff*. Skeptical as she'd been, Korra's company really was cheering her up. “Time for a break?” Asami suggested.

Korra nodded thankfully. “Spirits, yes. Maybe show me that engine you were talking about?”

Asami tilted her head. “Really?”

“Sure,” Korra said, sitting against the floor with her back against the wall. “I mean, I never cared much about them before, but the way you drive has given cars a bit of sex appeal.”

They laughed together. “Well unfortunately, that's not something that you'll see on a schematic.” Nonetheless, she opened the box. Indeed, it was mostly full of all her working notes and designs—some of which she'd been working on with her father.

She shoved those aside, for now, then frowned. How had THAT gotten in there?

“Asami?” Korra asked, seeing her expression.

Asami shook her head, distant, pulling the book out from where it was nestled. “Sorry. I just... hadn't remembered packing this.”

“What is it? A diary?”

“No. Well, sort of. It's a scrap book. It was a hobby my mom started me on, when I was younger. Saving newspaper clippings of things that interested me—stuff about Future Industries, mostly.”

Asami's fingers traced the cover—honestly, she hadn't looked in the thing in years. Learning from her father, impressing him, had become more important than keeping up something she'd done with a mother that was fading from memory. Or maybe that fading itself had become too hard.

“You okay there?”

Asami jolted, hugging the book to herself. “Hmm? Oh, sorry. I sorta wandered off a moment, didn't I?”

“It's alright.” Korra gave her a warm smile. “I kind of like these little glimpses into you.”

Asami quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Korra's eyes widened. “Um... was that a weird thing to say? Sorry, I didn't exactly have a ton of experience making friends.”

She gave Korra a reassuring glance, moving to sit beside her against the wall. “It wasn't that weird. And neither have I, honestly. It was hard to find somebody to connect with.”

They both stared at the boxes across the room, sharing a sigh.

Asami perked up suddenly. “Oh! I think I remember something.” She opened the scrap book, flipping through it.

“Hmm?” Korra looked on curiously.

“An article, from a year after mom died. I was still really sad about it, and stuck on how unfair it was, how much I wished somebody had been there to help... ah, here!”

Asami found the page she was looking for. The article, ten years old now, was bumpy from the glue her smaller hands had pasted it to the page with, but the grainy picture was instantly recognizable.

Korra laughed when Asami passed her the book. “Me?”

Asami nodded. “I was _so_ excited to hear about your training and everything! They said you were a prodigy, already proficient in waterbending and firebending, and eager to get out there and beat up some bad guys. I guess eight-year-old Asami really liked the sound of that.”

“Well, eighteen-year old Asami is pretty good at doing it herself.” Korra said with a grin. “I kinda wish we'd met as kids. I bet we would have gotten along great!”

Asami smiled, for the moment content to be sitting beside her friend. “I think you're right. I know little Asami would be excited to know she'd be friends with the Avatar, ten years later. At least some things turned out well...”

“Hey,” Korra said, a light touch on her shoulder. “Other stuff will turn out well too. We'll deal with the Equalists, no sweat.”

Asami looked at the picture, little Korra posing for the camera, smiling with two missing teeth. She ran her fingers along the side of the page, remembering her mother. She looked at the page next to it, a factory opening, her father's face smiling, promising the bright future he named his company after.

The past confused her and the present terrified her. The future...

Her father had a motto: We have to build the future, or somebody else will do it for us.

She'd seen the future he and Amon had in mind.

Korra seemed nervous at Asami's silence. “Then after that... well I have no idea what will happen after that. I guess we'll have to make the most of it. But you know what? You and me, Team Avatar, working together... we'll make the world a better place. After all, somebody's got to do it.”

Asami smiled weakly, contemplating the eerie echo between Korra's sentiment and her father's. She took the book back, gently shutting it. “Well, we're not going to build the future tonight.”

“Time for bed?”

“Time for bed,” Asami agreed. “Thanks.”

“Hey, don't mention it!” Korra said, hands on her knees, pushing herself up. She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “If you need anything, I'm just a few doors down.”

“Likewise,” Asami said, reaching a hand up. Korra took it, pulling her to her feet. “Seriously. You're under a ton of pressure, too. If _you_ need anything.”

“I can handle it.”

“Korra.”

Their eyes met.

Korra sighed, tilting her head. “Alright, fair's fair. I'll keep it in mind.”

“Make sure that you do,” Asami said. “I'd get pretty mad if you didn't let me help you. And after all, I know where you sleep.”

Korra grinned. “I walked into that one. Good night, Asami.”

“Good night, Korra.”

The Avatar shut the door behind her.

Asami yawned, well and truly tired after all the unpacking, and contemplated just collapsing onto the bed in her work outfit.

But first things first.

She placed the scrapbook on the side of the desk, against the armoire.

Then she placed the Equalist gauntlet on top of it.

Past and present in one little pile. Right where she could see them.

As for the future...

...she'd wait and see.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, Shannon won't write a story unless she thinks it'll stand out. Shannon makes her life difficult. But Shannon loves Korrasami more than her own well-being and is a grandmaster of fluff! 
> 
> Why was that third person, you ask? Why is it second person now? This Shannon lady has clearly lost her mind. At least she's still cogent enough to write excellent Korrasmi fics, though! In fact, you are so appreciative, you've already decided to leave a lovely comment, or at least a kudo or two, and perhaps see what else she has to offer. Also, you are ignoring the woman making spooky noises in the corner and waving her fingers at you like she's some sort of mind-controlling Jedi. You're sure it means nothing.
> 
> Finally, if you wanted a more straightforward 'Ten Years Later' story, I'd already written one quite some time ago! http://archiveofourown.org/works/6652330 - Park. It's total fluff and makes me smile. You should read it and smile too. Unless you are an enemy of smiles. You don't want to be an enemy of smiles, do you?
> 
>  
> 
> [Visit me on my tumblr! Say hi! ](https://threehoursfromtroy.tumblr.com/)


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